The fundamental experience of being trans right now, in 2021, is being eternally sandwiched between forces bigger than yourself. Forces with their own agendas, who use trans people for their own purposes, who shout louder than we ever can, because they have access to the mainstream media and other levers of power and influence. Their narratives drown out that of real trans people and their experiences struggling with gender dysphoria, and ultimately serve to confuse the conversation around trans issues among the general public. This, in turn, paralyzes any hope of progress, and even causes backlash, a backlash that is keenly felt by trans people around the world.
"... but LGBT people seem to be getting angrier all the time. And this doesn’t make sense to me."
It makes perfect sense from a sociological point of view. Back when things were objectively more terrible, everyone accepted that terribleness as the baseline, including those who fought against it. Now that we're closer to a just world---with legal same-sex marriage, better anti-discrimination laws, and greater acceptance generally---there's a new perceived baseline, one in which LGBT get to live their lives without any oppression whatsoever. And when oppression still exists, the reaction isn't resignation, it's anger.
I share your frustration with linguistic purity, and I don't know enough about postmodern theory and its inroads into nonacademic life to comment on that part of your analysis ... but I do think the anger is reasonable.
"... but LGBT people seem to be getting angrier all the time. And this doesn’t make sense to me."
It makes perfect sense from a sociological point of view. Back when things were objectively more terrible, everyone accepted that terribleness as the baseline, including those who fought against it. Now that we're closer to a just world---with legal same-sex marriage, better anti-discrimination laws, and greater acceptance generally---there's a new perceived baseline, one in which LGBT get to live their lives without any oppression whatsoever. And when oppression still exists, the reaction isn't resignation, it's anger.
I share your frustration with linguistic purity, and I don't know enough about postmodern theory and its inroads into nonacademic life to comment on that part of your analysis ... but I do think the anger is reasonable.